9 great examples of content from online retailers

This examines content marketing strategies of nine e-commerce retailers that effectively promote their brands and assist customers via videos, quizzes, social communities, and buyers' guides.

Content is vitally important in e-commerce and more and more retailers are building a serious content strategy around their sites. 

In this article, I'll look at examples from sites using content effectively for a number of reasons. 

The use of content by online retailers has a number of potential benefits: 

• Branding. Good content can build awareness of a brand.
   
• SEO. Quality content can give retailers the edge over competitors.
   
• Sales. Well written and persuasive product page copy can convert visitors into customers.
   
• To help customers choose. Content such as Buyer's Guides leads shoppers through the product selection process and also helps with SEO.
   
• User content. This can be used as a form of social proof. 

The following examples showcase these benefits:

1. Bonobos

Bonobos' "Chino Fit Quiz" is a fun way to help customers find the right fit:

2. Home Depot

"Buyer's Guides" and "How-To Guides" are great content for shoppers. 

This one from Home Depot helps visitors to make more informed decisions about ranges, talking customers through the pros and cons of the different types on offer. 

This kind of content has several benefits:

• It helps to keep customers on the site longer during their product research. If they can find the information they need then they don't have to search Google or head to rival sites.
   
• It helps customers to make a decision. This in turn makes it more likely they will buy from your site.
   
• It has major SEO benefits. Done well, a "Buyer's Guide" provides quaility content for customers and the search engines. It also makes your site findable when customers type in product queries. 

3. Blendtec

Yes, this is obvious, but it's a great example of how content can work beautifully for branding. 

The videos have made the brand known around the world and have been viewed more than 265 million times on YouTube. 

These videos are fun, but also have the added benefit of showing how robust the blenders are. 

4. Modcloth

Modcloth's user communities contribute lots of useful content to the site. 

There are reviews on product pages, and a style gallery where customers send photos of themselves wearing the products. 

It's a great use of the community, as these images are shared and help to promote the products more widely. 

In addition, this is valuable social proof that tells potential buyers that this site has lots of satisfied customers. 

5. Patagonia

This site has lots of very detailed and beautifully produced content, which matches the brand's values perfectly. 

Though this isn't content which seeks to sell too hard, it does reference and link to products where it's relevant. 

6. J. Peterman Company

J. Peterman Company's  content really helps to define the brand, and it is pretty entertaining too. 

Unique product page copy is also great from an SEO perspective.

So many retailers lazily reproduce the standard manufacturer product descriptions that sites can stand out by being different. 

7. Chubbies

Chubbies' site, which sells shorts as a kind of lifestyle choice, uses customer content to help promote its products. 

It's a great way for a smaller retailer to promote itself cost-effectively. For the price of a free pair of shorts, the company gets free content and lots of social promotion. 

8. Casper

Casper.com creates content that tells customers about the process behind its products. 

This reinforces the perception of quality, and provides customers with lots of information to help the decide on the right product. 

9. Repair Clinic

Repair Clinic's site sells spare parts for household appliances, and it produces video guides for the majority of its products. 

These video guides work in a number of ways: 

• They tell the customer what to do with the product they're buying, thus ensuring that it works as it should and reduced returns rates.
   
• They promote the brand on social media.
   
• The videos can help with customer acquisition. Users will search for guides on repairing appliances, and these not only help with the how-to, but also where to buy the spare parts they need. 

In summary

These examples of content are produced and used in a variety of ways, but the common factor is that each one not only promotes the brands but also provides help to the customers. 

The brands here have found ways to use content to complement their products and services by explaining the products and features, by allowing their customers to do this work, or simply by providing entertaining and interesting content. 

In each case, the content fits well with the brand values. Practical, in the case of Repair Clinic or Home Depot, or more connected to the consumers' lifestyle, as on Patagonia and Chubbies. 

As with all effective content marketing, strategy is very important.

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Top 25 Social Media Marketing Tips from the Experts

Social media has increasingly become the significant driving force in marketing.  So, how does the average company or brand make the most effective use of this very important tool?

Here are 25 things that experts can implement to maximize the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.

1. Post regularly – The more your audience hears from you, the more trust you’ll be able to build.

2. Deliver relevant content –  ensure that what your audience hears (and sees) is interesting and fits seamlessly with your brand identity.

3. Post unique content – Try not to curate too much of your social media content, as most likely your target audience has seen it before. If you want to stand out on social media, your content needs to be unique to your brand.

4. Share and retweet – a great way to widen your audience and show that you know what’s relevant.

5. Don’t discount the “smaller” social networks – Test out everything, which includes Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, etc. You might be surprised at the results!

6. Be as visible as possible – Don’t be afraid to follow some of your competitors, and even interact with their content.

7. Be a helper – Respond on Twitter or Facebook when you have legitimate answers to questions, and never follow up with calls to action or sales language. Be genuine about wanting to help.

8. Vary the appearance of your logo – Experiment with different colors and layouts that clearly communicate who you are. This presents a good opportunity to split test which posts get the best engagement.

9. Learn from your mistakes – Analyze past posts to determine what works consistently and what doesn’t.  Refrain from posting content that fails to get significant engagement.

10. Always use images on Twitter –  Use images to your advantage, as they get better engagement than tweets that only has text.

11. Limit tweets to 100 characters – this provides extra characters for people to share your tweets with comments or @tags.

12. Stop fishing for likes and shares – Try engaging your audience in ways that encourage conversations and interactions. If people find what you post interesting, they will share.

13. Mix it up with content formats – Make sure that your social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) are well-branded, and don’t be afraid to use different formats.

14. Host live hangouts – This makes the social media experience more real. Both Google Hangouts and live Twitter events are great tools to use.

15. Make strategic use of #hashtags in all relevant social media platforms –  whatever you do, please don’t make up hashtags as you write your posts. Thoroughly research trending hashtags. There will be times when you can blaze your own trail, but if you want to broaden your reach, you need to follow existing trends.

16. Get good at one thing at a time –  try not to establish several different social media channels and attempt to keep up with them all. It’s a good way to burn out fast. Master one social media platform, and then move on to the next.

17. Automate whatever you can – Always maintain a fresh flow of content. Don’t be afraid to use automation tools to schedule your posts and keep your content organized.

18. Know what your competitors are posting – Look for patterns in your competitors’ content, and test out similar material of your own.

19. Spend money on video – Every niche can benefit from videos as they get better engagement on social media.

20. Hold contests and giveaways – Few things churn up the kind of buzz that’s created by giving away free stuff, so consider some friendly competition among your followers.

21. Use your email list to promote your social media content –  it’s a great way to drive targeted traffic!

22. Invest in custom graphics – Stock photos work, however, images unique to your brand almost always gets more engagement.

23. Encourage employee engagement on your channels – The people who work for you are among your best endorsers. Enlist their help in sharing your content on their personal channels.

24. Be an authority – Position yourself as a leader in your niche, and post content that proves it.

25. Take risks – Try something outlandish once in a while, and don’t be afraid to stretch people’s perception of your brand.

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12 Essential Tasks Every Social Media Marketer Should Do Monthly

Social media marketing is often about simple routines that need to be integrated into daily life. This post covers such routines, twelve of them in fact. We focus on the twelve things that you should try and include in your “beginning of the month” to-do list. Hopefully, they will all combine to ensure that you get most out of your social media marketing activities.

The first thing you need to do at the start of every month is get your data head on. Check out all the stats from the last month and see how your social media has performed. How’s the follower rate going? And do you know what the engagement rate has been? At what time during the month did people engage the most? Knowing the facts means that you can gain a fuller understanding of the impact of last month’s efforts. If they’ve left you dead in the water, change up your strategy. If they are bringing engagement, intensify your efforts. By being aware of the difference certain actions make you can ensure that you are always improving, and making progress.

Then you need to get the benchmarking done. Benchmarking means simply looking at how your competitors are doing and comparing your output and impact with them. You also need to ensure that you take a look at the bigger picture (not just your enemies) by looking at major players in the industry. This doesn’t necessary need to be only data driven either. What kind of trends are there with content and marketing in your industry, for example? Keep on top of this particular wave and you’ll be riding it for months to come. Ignore your competitors and the industry and they will ignore you.

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/resource-12-monthly-tasks-03.jpg.jpg

A content marketing strategy is not meant to be just a piece of paper that is left on a desk (even if it’s your desk). Pick up and review it at the start of every month. First of all, you need to know what has been completed or left at the wayside, and has it mattered? Then, you need to ensure that you have a clear plan for the month ahead. Take time, also, to be certain that you are doing the best you possibly can to optimize the content you are producing. Is everything in place to create great content? Do you know?

Every company should have at least one big content calendar meeting. And the start of the month is the best time to do this. It sharpens the various minds and makes sure that people know what is expected of them for the month ahead. Go through the content calendar with the team, and make it your job to be certain that everyone knows all that needs to be done in the next 30 days. Challenges can be discussed, and the good stuff that came out of last month can be celebrated. This is the perfect opportunity to check that everyone is on point for the month ahead when it comes to creating superb content.

You’ve been managing the reporting side of things, right? All data and insights need to be sent out to the executives and other stakeholders. The people who greenlit your marketing. Ensure it is easy to access, has key takeaways and focuses on the value you are bringing to the company and its goals and objectives. And make sure it comes in a pretty folder too (this last part is optional). Quick Tip: Stakeholders are interested in quantifiable data. Make everything about the money the content marketing is going to bring in via branding, earned media and conversions data.

Social media has advertising very much at the core of it now. You cannot grow organically. You need to review what has happened with this particular aspect of the game over the last month. What ads are working the best? Which targeting has the lowest pay-per-click? How are the sales and conversions? Then, make sure this is all in order and accessible to all concerned, so you’re ready for the next part of the process.

Set up the social advertising campaigns so that they are informed and optimised by the data that you found in your review. Twitter? Facebook? Instagram? Google? Follower growth or reach? Where and how is spending to be allocated so you get the maximum ROI from your budget?

Set up your goals for the month. How can you change up your approach so that you gain even more engagement? What new things can you try? Set performance goals, so you can keep pushing the envelope and add more value to the social media marketing in the month ahead. If you set clear and concrete goals, you should be able to be on the road of continuous improvements. Quick Tip: Use a combination of data and clear thinking to set up measurable goals. Always tie goals to data when you can.

And this leads us onto the next step at the start of every month. Be bold, and choose at least a couple of experiments to implement. This could be all about using more visuals. If you’ve never, ever created an infographic, try one out. If the video has so far not been a major thing for your company, start down the road of creating some high-quality video that you can share with your audience. Quick Tip: Give as many people as possible the empowerment they need to try something new. Celebrate the success publicly, and encourage experimentation.

Identify influencers. It is always important to identify influencers that you can aim to make a connection with. Influencers can help you leverage your social media content, give it credibility and spread it to a larger audience. One of your goals should be to find at least one new influencer every month to reach out to and try to establish a connection with. It will help boost your social media presence.

Create at least one social media event and include it in your calendar. This could be something as simple as a hangout, a live stream or a webinar. Or it could be a full on virtual summit with people from your industry. If you are going big, don’t be afraid to plan it out over a couple of months. These things take time to build, but the important thing is that they get built. Quick Tip: Whatever it is that you’re building ensure you plan in advance and start raising awareness and expectations at least a month before the big day.

Plan ahead for the next month after this one coming up. Think about the month itself and the seasonal aspects that may affect your content marketing. Be aware that many people in content marketing don’t understand the impact of national holidays on their efforts. Be one step (and one month) ahead of that game. It makes sense to see where you are in the calendar year and plan accordingly. Otherwise, you could miss out on a truly useful marketing opportunity. Quick Tip: Have a brainstorming session on the upcoming holidays and other relevant events on the calendar. Work out how you can create unique content opportunities around that event (Father’s Day for example).

Follow the above 12 steps every month and you should see a continuous level of improvements in your activities and your results.You should integrate these steps into your monthly routine to get the most out of the work you do.

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Social Media: 15 Minute Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever had those brief moments in your day where you have like 10-20 minutes and you’re not sure what to do?

You know those moments where you have just enough time to do one more small task before you leave to pick up your kids or get on that call with your client. You sit there thinking about what to do and then your hand clicks the mouse into your favorite social site.

And then you say to yourself, “Hey, it’s just 15 minutes. I can take a few minutes to enjoy a little social break.”

Or maybe you spend your day moving from one project to the next and just feeling stressed. And you’re thinking, “Did you just say take a social break? I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to get that Facebook fan page to grow or how I’m going to increase my followers on Twitter.”

So whether you need ideas to grow your social presence or need a list of suggestions to use in those brief moments of time, I pulled together a list of things that you can do during those quick moments of the day to help you to keep growing your business.

My Top 10 Time Management Ideas

Here’s my suggested list of action items you can do in 15 minutes to grow your social presence:

1. Make a list of what social sites are bringing you the most traffic:

To make this list, log into your Google Analytics and click on the links to follow this sequence: Acquisitions – All Traffic – Referrals

You’ll see a list showing which social site is generating the most referral traffic to your website. Each site is linked to a breakdown of the actual posts people clicked on to reach your site.

My top referral source is Pinterest. When I’m in this section, I click on the Pinterest link and it takes me to a breakout of the top pins/images that brought people to my site. To help me better understand what people are interested in, I add my top 10 pins and the number of traffic clicks from those images to my list of my top social sites.

I can also track my traffic from Twitter, my newsletter and all the places where I do guest blog posts but not Facebook. Right now, Facebook is the only program that won’t give me more information other than the number of people who came to my site.

2. Check your top posts in your Facebook fan page:

To access this information, go to the admin panel of your fan page. Look for the tab on the top of your fan page that says Insights and click on that button.

Then start tracking the activity from your Facebook posts. I used a word document but you can set up a spread sheet or just write it out on a piece of paper.

After you’ve logged into your Facebook fan page Insights, review your posts and answer the following questions:

• What were your top 5 posts for the week?
• What time of day were they posted?
• What day of the week were they posted?
• What was the topic or message of these posts?
• Did you add a video, photo or ask a question?

The more you check your Insights, the more you’ll start to see patterns emerge. You’ll start to see what type of content speaks more to your fans and what posts create more engagement with your potential customers.

3. Check what’s going on with your Twitter account:

To see what’s happening with your Twitter account, click into Twitter and click the link to take you to your Notifications section. This is the place where you’ll be able to view your recent activity.

When I log into my Notifications, I usually do these steps:

• Did someone new follow you? Click over to their profile and decided if you want to follow them back. Look through their tweets and retweet a post of theirs or comment on one of their tweets.
• Did someone share your blog post or promote your products? Hit the reply button under their post and thank them for sharing your stuff. I usually add in a personal note to show that I’m not automating these thank you messages.

4.  Find new people to follow in Pinterest:

One of the best ways to hep you grow your Pinterest account is to find new people who are posting new content for you to repin on Pinterest. I usually run a search for new people and boards at least once a week.

• Pinterest’s search feature is so easy to use and it’ll help you look for new people, boards and pins. Just type in your company’s key words or use the words you’d use to run a search on Google.
• This search is a huge help to look for more content to add to a board that you just started or want to grow. You’ll be able to find people who have already done the search work and just re-pin several of their pins. And depending on their content, go ahead and follow them or just their board.

5. Update your LinkedIn profile:

Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to add what we’re working on to our LinkedIn profile. I know this one well – it happens to me all the time!

Your LinkedIn profile is super important because if someone runs a Google search of your name, your LinkedIn profile will come up as an option. This may be one of the first places where a potential customer or partner will first learn about you so you want to make sure that your information is up to date.

To update your information, log into your LinkedIn profile, go to the Edit Profile section (you’ll see the edit pencil next to all the sections) and ask yourself these questions:

• Did you recently add in a new product or service? You can add that to your profile under the Project section.
• Did you write a guest post on another blog? Add in the link in the Publications section.
• Have your services changed? Make sure you update that in your Summary section as well as in the Experience section.

6. Find new people in Instagram to follow:

Doing a search for people who do the same work as you as you do is a great way to see how others in your industry are using Instagram. Run a search for your company’s key words in the search feature (that looks like a magnifying glass) and see who comes up.

When I first started using Instagram for my business, I ran a search and found a ton of people to follow when I searched for social media and small business. I also found that when I followed people who were like me, several of them followed me back.

Also make some notes about what hashtags they’re using! I found several of my strongest hashtags from checking out what others who were doing the same type of work as me were using.

7. Check your numbers in your social sites and set goals for each one for the month:

I usually do this at the end of every month so I can track what’s growing and what site needs a little help. And then I add in a goal number for the next month.

If you don’t know where to start or how to set this up, take a look at my Quarterly Check-in post. You’ll get all the steps to set up a quick social site check-in AND I’ve got a few FREE printable worksheets to give you a place to write it all down.

8. Do a mini-brainstorm social session:

Is there one social site that you’ve been meaning to give a little attention to help you grow your followers? Try doing a little brainstorm session.

Start by looking at the top content on that site and make notes about what’s connecting with your fans. Now list 5 ideas that you could do to help you create or find more of the type of content your fans want to see more of.

And since you’re keeping this to 15 minutes, there’s no time to judge your ideas, just keep writing down everything that comes to your mind.

9. Read and comment on one of your favorite blogs:

Take the whole 15 minutes to really read the article (not just scan it) and think about your comment. What could you say in your comment to really add to the conversation?

If you can’t add to the conversation, move on to the next blog post or another blogger’s site. It’s OK if it was something that was posted a couple of weeks or a month ago. The point is to spend some time crafting your comment so that you can contribute the conversation and maybe even start a connection with your favorite blogger.

10. Remember how much you ROCK

Take a moment to think about how far you’ve come, all the cool things you’ve done and make a quick to-do list of what you want to work on next.

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Facebook’s new emoticons: the good, the bad and the future

Facebook unveiled six emojis last week. What challenges and opportunities will the emoticons bring to brand marketers?

Last week, Facebook unveiled six emoticons in addition to the existing "Like" button. Users can now use emojis to say, "love," "haha," "yay," "wow," "sad," and "angry." If they take off, these new emojis will give brands an additional source of personalized data in order to conduct sentiment analysis. They will also enable advertisers to enhance the user experience with greater relevancy in the posts that they serve.

Recent stats from eMarketer show that among 510 people surveyed, more than 70 percent believe that emojis help them accurately express their thoughts. Nearly 65 percent said emojis make it easier for people to understand them. From a branding perspective, companies can use emoticons to share their sentiment with their consumers and in turn, offer a deeper forum to gauge how their consumers feel about them. 

But will the more nuanced sentimental expressions present complications or opportunities for brand marketers? Below, we present you with the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

The good

Visual communication is a big piece of what is missing on many social media platforms. Marketers used to look at engagement rate based on the number of Likes. This was a very simple and blunt metric. Now, Facebook's new emojis can tell brands how people respond.

"Measurement will not just be about the engagement rate, but also the happiness or frustration rate for example," notes Christian Brucculeri, chief executive (CEO) of branded emoji keyboard company Snaps.

Victor Pineiro, vice president of social media at agency Big Spaceship, agrees that with more emotional data, brands are able to have a better sense of how their (paid) posts are working.

"It's one thing to post paid content and get many Likes, but it's another thing to get lots of angry or sad emojis. It's really valuable for advertisers to get diverse emotional responses," says Pineiro.

A customer's emotional relationship with a brand has become a key driver of customer loyalty, according to Forrester Research. And many brands like Disney are looking to make emotion as their next targeting metric. Decisive, a mobile advertising company in Disney's startup accelerator group, started analyzing data in images and video to predict emotional responses in social platforms.

The bad

While Facebook's new emojis could offer additional data and help brands conduct sentiment analysis, users may be overwhelmed with the variety of emoticon choices and keep using the Like button.

"I'd like to see if Facebook emojis can really take off and how damaging negative emoticons can be. When you promote a post and it gets one thousand angry emojis, what does that mean? Do people really pay attention to it?" Pineiro says.

If the six emojis turn into a success, users will become less likely to respond to a post with words, meaning that brands will have more difficulties in adjusting their content. Remember, text-based comments can help brands open the door to discussions so companies know how to improve their social content. In comparison, emojis can hardly create the same room for two-way conversations between brands and their fans.

The future

For the time being, Facebook's six new emoticons are only available in Ireland and Spain. If they are rolled out across the U.S. at some point in the future, brands will have to work with third-party analytics platforms more actively because many do not have an in-house infrastructure to conduct sentiment analysis. 

"Quickly, sentiment analysis tools will pop out to help brands measure emotional responses," says Snaps's Brucculeri.

Looking forward, it's still unknown if other social media networks will follow suite. Prior to Facebook, Twitter already unleashed its first branded emoji with #ShareaCoke in September of this year. If users included this hashtag in a tweet, Twitter would automatically create an image of two Coke bottles clinking.

Twitter has just created a custom emoji, which appears when people tweet the hashtag #ShareACoke #socialmedia pic.twitter.com/MO8HsVl2S2

— Social Sharma (@ani_sharma) October 5, 2015

It's a scary thought that Twitter will let users comment with emojis because people expect this platform to be as simple as possible. The platform already provides options of tweet, retweet, embed and a star for favorites, so adding emojis may hurt Twitter's user experience.

"While Twitter needs a simplified engagement model, it's interesting to see that Facebook is increasing the complexity for better user experience. I think you need to think about the nature of the platform in order to make emojis effective. An emoji response inside a tweet may not really help Twitter," says Brucculeri.

Emojis have become a fad that brands and social media networks cannot ignore. Will Facebook users welcome this update?

Or not?

Only time will tell.

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How brands use WeChat for impact and engagement

WeChat is China's most indispensable app. Here is a look at how brands from Kate Spade to Chanel are using this versatile platform to market to Chinese consumers.

When WeChat said it wanted to connect everything, it wasn’t kidding – from mobile messaging to health tech to interactive toys, the company seems to have it covered. It’s even ready to overtake texting as the communication method of choice – no mean feat, considering the billions of texts sent every day.

This ubiquity of access and integration into its 600 million users' everyday lives has naturally inspired brands looking to nail the three R's of social user engagement – reach, recognition and revenue – to take advantage of WeChat’s commercial opportunities. Here are some of the best examples of key strategies used by brands to enhance their presence and engage their customers via WeChat:

Brand stories told through HTML5 mini sites

Setting up an HTML5 mini site specifically designed for access via WeChat through QR codes, chat, customized menus, multimedia messages, and shared messages on Moments gives brands the freedom to get creative with their content without disrupting other branded activity.

Fashion houses that are looking to enhance their profile in China, such as Moncler and Browns, have chosen this route as the swiftest, surest way to reach a new audience.

Chanel has created a fashion mini site which gives WeChat users the full Chanel experience, complete with news, videos, make up tips as well as product and promotional information. It uses the WeChat interface to its advantage, engaging users without taking them out of their familiar environment and providing them with rich, exclusive information reflecting the quality and high-end nature of the brand.

Louis Vuitton used the buzz generated from key opinion leaders (KOL) in its second series show to drive users to a WeChat mini site. It then offered them a virtual experience of the event, encouraged them to share it socially and gave them information about the new women’s range.

Audience participation with games and quizzes

WeChat users are highly engaged and predisposed at getting involved in app-based activity. Millions have downloaded games such as Dash and Speed. There’s clearly an appetite for interaction, and brands have been quick to exploit this. U.S. fashion company Kate Spade, for example, launched a sky lantern game where users could select a lantern color and write messages on it before releasing it to the sky. They were encouraged to invite friends to take part via QR code, and had the opportunity to win Kate Spade products by participating.

Coach has a reputation as one of the most creative luxury brands on WeChat. Its Modern New Yorker campaign asked users to send a text to the Coach WeChat account to receive nine photographic puzzle pieces of brand ambassador and superstar musician Leehom Wang, which they then had to complete for the chance to win a signed Coach poster. 

Disruptive advertising: thinking outside the app

Innovative application of WeChat’s functionality has led to a number of very successful campaigns, delivering measurable improvements to profits as well as popularity.

Uniqlo is an example of a brand that increased its WeChat followers from 400,000 to around one million in just six months and boosted sales by 30 percent with its Style Your Life campaign. In a project which brought together physical stores and online sharing, users were encouraged to try on outfits in-store in front of monitors - designed to give consumers access to a number of different backgrounds, including sightseeing in London and an evening in downtown Tokyo. The images were automatically uploaded to WeChat, where users could share them with their friends. Some users also uploaded selfies taken in-store.

Chinese mobile Internet company Dianping has also made creative use of WeChat’s messaging services to develop an innovative campaign to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron. This was the first brand to use a fake incoming call which, when answered, appeared to result in the user’s screen cracking under the signature attacks of the Avengers.

And here is a shot of the 'shattered' screen effect.

A call to action encouraged users to continue their experience in the cinema, and linked to the Dianping booking system. The campaign played to all the strengths of WeChat as well as the personalities of its users – focusing on telling a story, delivering it quickly and with impact to an audience used to short, speedy interactions and allowing them to easily act on what they’d seen without taking them out of the brand environment.

What’s next?

It’s clear that brands are keen to get involved in all the marketing opportunities WeChat has to offer. It’s a lucrative partnership with measurable benefits for both sides.

Naturally, WeChat wants to feed this appetite. At the beginning of this year parent company Tencent tested ads within Moments, and is in the process of ramping up in-app advertising. This will no doubt encourage brands to think creatively about ads which go with the flow of app content, although they will want to be particularly careful to do this in a way that does not disrupt the user experience (UX).

The lifestyle aspect of WeChat also provides brands with increasingly innovative opportunities to connect with users and potential customers – it’s now far beyond being a simple communication platform, with users booking taxis and air tickets, paying bills, making investments and much more. In its drive to connect everything, WeChat is set to become the platform of choice for both users and brands.

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8 Incredibly Easy Tips for Using Social Media to Boost Your Business’ Sales!

For many small business and e-commerce stores, social media is an excellent platform to connect with existing customers and attract the attention of potential customers. Social media marketing is a valuable promotional tool that can help spread your outreach, increase sales, and allow your business to grow; here are several tips to take full advantage of the social media trend to up your revenue:

• Determine the best way to connect with prospective customers.
  First, evaluate your current and prospective customer base. Find out where they are spending their time, and go there. If your customers are less likely to be on social media, don’t waste your time. If they are using popular sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.), determine which site will be best for connecting with them.Each social media platform has its place in sales marketing:
  • Facebook is the all-around ideal for business/customer sales; however, if your company has limited funds for advertising, you may want to consider using several sites to boost your visibility.
  • Twitter is also a great place for many types of e-commerce, and is one of the more popular sites when it comes to customer service.
  • LinkedIn has an air of professionalism that is perfect for business-to-business sales – connecting with larger companies who may be interested in your products and services.
  • Photo-based sites, such as Instagram or Pinterest, are all about engaging with your customers in a fun, interesting way with a highly visual connection.

• Offer incentives for frequent purchases.
  As the saying goes, it costs more to get a new customer than it does to keep your existing ones. Take the time to focus your attention on your current social media followers by rewarding them with offer deals, discounts, coupons, and specials that are based on the frequency of purchases. This strategy not only encourages customers to make purchases more often but also lets them know that you appreciate and notice their support.

• Promote ALL the products and services your business offers.
  If you want to increase sales, you have to make sure your customers know what you are selling. You can do this seamlessly by featuring a different product or service weekly and highlighting what they are and why your customers should be interested in them. Don’t neglect to mention any products or services you offer!

• Add a shopping cart.
  If Facebook is your site of choice, add an online store directly to your business’ Facebook page so customers have the option of making purchases right then and there (without being directed to another site). Make shopping as easy and hassle-free for your customers as possible.

• Go mobile.
  In a recent study, 85% of Americans stated that mobile devices are a central part of their daily lives. This is great news for you – mobile apps for social media sites are the best way to reach your customers on the go, 24/7, wherever they are.

• Create a desire or need for your products or services.
  When buyers get the sense that there is excitement surrounding what you offer, they are more likely to want to make a purchase. By updating customers about upcoming releases, flash sales, limited-time offers, or special promotions, the sense of urgency and buzz around your products and services will turn a customer’s interest into desire into need – into sales.

• Incorporate a variety of content.
  When it comes to social media, you have countless options for uploading content. Photos, videos, blogs, quotes, articles, use them all! Create an interesting and unique shopping experience for your customers. Even sharing the content of your competitors can be useful, as it will draw the attention of their client base to your business.

• (#)Hashtag!
  Don’t underestimate the power of a hashtag. Using a variety of general and specific hashtags will allow your business to stand out in any hashtag searches your potential customers are doing. Hashtags are especially useful for big events (#holidaysale) or special promotions (#freeshipping).

E-commerce via social media is becoming increasingly popular and is an opportunity small business should not ignore.

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